Wisconsin Files Suit Against Miami as College Athletics Continues to Try to Work Out Its Problems

Although judge Claudia Wilken signed off on the House v. NCAA settlement earlier this month, there is still a lot of work to be done to apply guardrails on a system that has felt lawless for the past few years.

Another step in that process started on Friday when the University of Wisconsin and its NIL collective filed a complaint in state court against the University of Miami, claiming the Hurricanes poached a defensive back Xavier Lucas, according to Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger. The whole thing sounds like a mess, but perhaps more important than the specifics of this particular case is what precedent it will set.

Talks of tampering in this portal/NIL era have been widespread. Even if Miami did what Wisconsin is accusing it of, it’s incredibly hard to imagine the Hurricanes are the only ones doing it. The issue resides in the fact that despite tampering being bad, the NCAA has been unable to police a crosswalk in recent years much less its member institutions because of different things happening in the courts.

I think everyone would rather the threat of tampering go away, but because of how widespread the issue is viewed, it seemed like it would be a tough thing to tackle. For some schools, accusing another school of tampering would feel like throwing stones in a glass house.

OSU coach Mike Gundy has on a few occasions likened the NCAA’s fleeting power to speeding tickets.

“There’s a speed limit sign that says 55, but nobody drives 55 and there’s nobody getting a ticket,” said Gundy back in 2022. “So, you really don’t have to drive 55. That’s actually what’s in place right now, in my opinion. What direction it’s going to go from now moving forward, who’s going to police it, what the mandates will be, I’m not sure. We’re just living day to day with this.”

He said that back in 2022, and it still feels relevant more than three years later. But maybe this lawsuit is a first step in getting the tampering issue solved. This is just one of many things the new world of college athletics will have to figure out in the fallout of the settlement being signed off on. It certainly feels like this is going to continue to take a while.

Here’s what the Big Ten had to say about Wisconsin’s lawsuit:

“The Big Ten Conference is aware of the litigation recently filed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison against the University of Miami and is supportive of UW-Madison’s position. As alleged, the University of Miami knowingly ignored contractual obligations and disregarded the principle of competitive equity that is fundamental to collegiate athletics.

“The Big Ten Conference believes that the University of Miami’s actions are irreconcilable with a sustainable college sports framework and is supportive of UW-Madison’s efforts to preserve.”